The Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 4.50%, despite pleas from President Donald Trump for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
Following the decision and the end of the monetary policy press conference, the main market movements were as follows: The dollar index stabilized at 107.915 points after erasing its marginal losses. The dollar-yen pair fell by 0.18% to settle at 155.19 yen. The euro-dollar pair dipped marginally by 0.1% to 1.0420 dollars. U.S. stock indices reduced their early session losses. Spot gold contracts erased some of their early losses to trade at $2,757 per ounce, down only 0.22%. Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude deepened their early losses, trading at the lowest levels since the beginning of the month, with both crude prices declining by 2.40% and 1.56% respectively, recording Brent at $75.69 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude registered $72.75 per barrel. Bitcoin significantly increased its gains, trading at $104,680, up more than $3,000 during the session.
